We are finally on the road!!!

Yes, it's true!!!  Wow, I just looked and the last time I updated this blog was May 9th!!  I promise to do better from here on out.

We have just been so busy getting the truck, getting it ready to go, visiting our older Son, getting our 4th yard sale set up and completed and deciding what needed to go with us and what needed to stay in the storage unit!!  We can't believe how much stuff we still have after four sales.  Can I just say how 'freeing' this has been??  I wouldn't have believed it, but a good friend of mine said that "you won't believe how FREE you feel when you get rid of STUFF"  She was right!!

In the midst of all of that, our younger Son came home and surprised me for Mother's Day.  He drove all the way from FL to OR in a few days.  AND, then he told us that he was moving back to FL so he would be joining us for our yard sale.

We had a very busy week getting things set up for the sale and during the sale we encountered rain, snow, hail and wind...but we had an amazing amount of people show up and w still did pretty good considering it was the same stuff we had at our sales in Culver.  We got rid of a LOT!!!

We then made a trip up to WA to see family and friends before our long trip east!  Had a great time visiting with as many as we could.

While we were there, we stayed with our good friends, the Brown's!  AWESOME food, JoAnn is a great cook!!!  I teased her and told her I would be giving out her address if anyone needed a good meal.... :-)   And, they were just so uplifting and encouraging, as they support our efforts 100%.

We went to visit another good friend, DeeAnn, who had been praying for us this entire time, while we sought the Lord's will for our lives.  She was also the one who kept me encouraged when I severely broke my arm a year and a half ago.  She got to go through all the ups and downs of this entire process....and kept me focused!!

We had decided to not tell many people till we knew for sure what the Lord's will for our lives would be and in that way we could just concentrate on what the Lord had for us.

We were able to meet up with some other friends, the Clarks, who started a full time RV life, as well, a couple of years ago and have been very supportive of our decision, from the start.

And, we were able to spend some time with our special needs granddaughter, who really doesn't understand our not having a home anymore but is excited to go 'camping' with Papa and Grandma when the time comes.

Finally, on the way back to Redmond, we spent an afternoon with our younger Granddaughter and her husband and got lots of hugs!!!  They are equally as supportive and that helps a LOT!!! Although, I will miss seeing them, she reminded me that we have phones and can call and text.

Actually, both of our Sons have been encouraging us to get out there and LIVE life while we can. That helps more than anything.  Although, I am basically a home body and love being near my family, I also am excited to see the country and volunteer my time in this capacity.

We left on Monday, May 22nd and are now officially ON THE ROAD!!!!!   While we were traveling, both of our Sons were also traveling....one was in Phoenix and one traveling to FL. That was so weird having us all traveling at the same time.  Well, to me, anyway.

We've encountered one little glitch along the way, like David picking a route that goes into the fold of the map.....and not checking to make sure that road comes out on the other side of the fold.....long story!!!!  But, God is good and if we hadn't made that little mistake, that took us hours out of our way, we wouldn't have seen the gorgeous scenery that we did.  But, I think I have hubby convinced now that a Google Map on my phone screen is sometimes a lot better than a map in a book...where it goes down into a 'fold'.  I won't be letting him live that one down for a little while :-)

But, it all worked out!!!  And, God had a motel just one block up the road that took pets.  We decided to get Chinese food.....but didn't realize that THIS restaurant wasn't the normal Chinese food....the meal didn't look appetizing at all and wasn't.  David had got it as take out and when he got back to the room, I took one look at it and couldn't eat some of it.  I won't go into detail but it just wasn't appetizing to look at.  But, we picked out the veggies and noodles and threw the rest away.

We had great scenery and weather all the way and God even got us through Las Vegas traffic!!!  That is NOT my favorite place on earth but to go around it would have taken a lot longer!!

If it were up to me, we would avoid every large city :-)

Thanks to all of you that have been encouraging us, especially the leaders and people of the Highland Baptist Church in Redmond!!  We miss that church and our awesome Pastor, Barry Campbell!!  He has no clue, but his sermons while we were going through all of this were directed completely at us.....OK...maybe not, but oh gosh, if he only knew how every Sunday it motivated us more and more and spoke to whatever we were going through at the time.  God used his sermons to help us prepare for this new adventure.

We are excited and looking forward to being a part of a group that volunteers their time to help churches build and add on to their facilities.  If you aren't familiar with them, go to www.volunteerchristianbuilders.org.

For now, we are just enjoying the trip, making our way back to get our 5th wheel....which should be ready sometime mid to late June.  So, we are in 'limbo' so to speak....but will be enjoying visiting friends and special people along the way and visiting different churches.

We would appreciate your prayers for safe travels!!!

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Hopefully, I'll get some photos taken soon!!  I have been taking them, just not sending them to my Gmail account.

Thanks for all of your encouragement and prayers!!!  It means so much to us!!

Hugs,

Char